


Caught

by bankedleft



Category: Justice League (2017), The Flash - All Media Types
Genre: Other, Reader Insert, after the events of JL, reader has super powers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-21
Updated: 2017-12-11
Packaged: 2019-02-05 00:42:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12783174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bankedleft/pseuds/bankedleft
Summary: You recently gained super powers but you have no idea what to do with them. Then, you see the Flash in a way no one had ever seen him before and you realize your powers might be more special than you thought. And he isn't quite what you expected either.





	1. Set up

Last month you gained a new ability every week. This month, its been one every day. You didn’t think much of it at first. Most the new skills were mundane: flipping a pancake perfectly every single time, spinning and throwing a knife like the cowboy in the movie, drawing a carbon copy of the streets in your neighborhood to give a man directions. Your ego got in the way of reason.

“I can learn new skills like this because I’m just good at them,” you told yourself. You believed it for a while too, but that was the thing. You were smart enough to know this wasn’t normal. No amount of self confidence could hide the truth. You held your memory of the accident in the back of your mind, the details too fuzzy to glean any answers from.

But coincidences just kept happening.

Yesterday, you watched a parkour video on your Facebook feed, and today you leaped over a railing, under a mailbox, and cleared a parked car to make it to the bus on time. You performed the exact same moves those men did in the video. You sat down on the bus seat and put your head in your hands, gripping your hair and staring wide eyed at your knees.

“I can copy people now,” you realized.

“That is dope as hell,” you said aloud, accidentally.

You looked around, embarrassed, but the thought wouldn’t leave you.

That was the connection. Every time you saw someone complete a task, you could do it too. The processing time between seeing and doing seemed to be getting shorter. You thought about the woman playing piano at the hotel you walked past this morning. You watched her play the entire song, it was so angry and passionate you couldn't leave without hearing how it ended and that was what nearly made you miss the bus.

You sat up and placed your fingers on invisible piano keys in front of you. Your hands twitched. They knew the notes and the timing and like you wrote the song yourself. Still, your brain couldn’t get them to mimic what you saw, not yet at least.

You smiled to yourself. So the accident did change something in you. It was still changing something in you. You sat back and let your hands do what your brain could not yet comprehend. You had never played piano before, and yet you played the woman’s song note for note.

When you got off the bus, you attempted a back flip you saw a guy do at a soccer game and you nailed it. This changed everything.

XX

Another month later you were determined to test your new ability which, after a bit of googling, you decided to call “photographic reflexes.” What that had to do with you or your accident you had no idea, but focusing on this was so much better than focusing on what you lost that day. It was easier to dive into yourself than face what happened to you.

You preferred to bounce around, carefree, and pretend everything was alright. Pretend that you didn’t lose anything from the accident, you gained this power.

So, in that mindset you walked toward the music supply store with something that resembled a plan. It involved buying a guitar, watching videos of Prince shredding, then making millions of dollars as a rockstar. You didn’t get that far, because you saw a flash.

The flash was too quick to actually see, but you replayed it in your minds eye. White light, red streak, moving. It was something moving. Moving fast. Your foot was still hovering off the ground. Your hair was mid-bounce in sync with your step, which had yet to fall, and it was already passed you. Then the lightning came. It was spindly and webbed and changing. You tried to reach out and touch it but your foot was still hovering from the ground, your hair still mid bounce. It was getting further away. In the distance you saw legs, running. Running too fast for anyone else to see. But you could see him, and you realized that the flash was from a man.

When your foot hit the concrete you whipped around and gasped. So did everyone else, not in reaction to the Flash himself, but to his lightning residue. It looked more like static to the average eye, but you saw the perfect arching lightning before it dissipated. You replayed it in your mind’s eye. He crossed the street in three steps, that was impressive. You couldn’t copy that, there was no way to get enough momentum.

Everyone who lived in the city knew about the Flash. He hadn’t done anything truly impressive yet, but most people still knew him as the teleporting superhero who could appear and disappear just in time to save people from car crashes, burning buildings, and the occasional alien invasion. You started to laugh. He didn’t teleport, he just ran. That was how he appeared and disappeared. Suddenly, you didn’t care so much about guitar. You had a new plan, and plagiarizing Prince wasn’t a part of it. 

You took off running with no hope of catching up to the Flash, but you did hope to arrive on scene of wherever he was heading to.

You scaled the easiest building and kept running across the rooftops in the direction he went. You heard gunshots, you heard screaming, and you knew you were close. You just hoped you were quick enough to catch him.

XX

From the rooftops, even running at full speed, you had to appreciate the sunset. It was stunning from this high up. You made a mental note to sit down and enjoy it sometime. Now was not that time.

The gunshots were coming from the street corner, which meant your runway had run out. You had about sixty feet to figure out how to get down to the street in time to ask the Flash… 

Actually you didn’t know what you wanted to ask him. Maybe you wanted to know if your abilities were good enough to fight crime too. Maybe you wanted some guidance on what to do with these abilities. You already watched a months worth of videos copying martial arts, cooking techniques, parkour, knife tricks, and hand to hand combat and mastering them all in one try. Maybe you were looking for a way to use them for something special.

Well, that settled what the conversation would be about. As for the dismount off this building, you would just have to improvise.

You let your reflexes take over. You dragged your left foot and hand and flung yourself off the edge of the building. Your left hand caught hard around the edge of a pipe and for just a moment, you were perfectly parallel with the street below. That moment began to stretch, and then you saw him.

He was moving up the sidewalk, then he was moving up. He ran up the side of the building, using the window sills as footholds.

He looked back down at the gun fight, which was over now. You saw the guns soaring upwards. He must have thrown their weapons to disarm them. He looked satisfied and then he looked back to you and he nearly fell into a window. 

You made confused, unexpected, intense eye contact with him. 

He jumped to your other side and your eyes followed him. Your weight was beginning to catch on your arm and you intended to hang onto the edge of the building like a monkey would lean out of a tree, that is if this moment would ever end. You felt dizzy thinking about how slow everything was moving. It was strange to operate, even a little bit, at these speeds. You couldn’t move at this speed, but you could process what you were seeing.

He clumsily climbed up the building. It was excruciating to watch, actually. He hopped with both feet when he needed only one, and he barely used his hands at all. You watched him the whole time, until he finally stood on the top of the building above you. You were now just past parallel to the street below.

He crouched down to grab your arm and you watched him. His suit even covered his face, which was funny to you because you were sure that you could still tell exactly what he looked like. The rest of the suit was bright red with a lightning bolt in the middle. He kept looking away from you, then looking back. The lightning crackled as the moment ended and you twisted and put both your feet onto the side of the building. Only now did you realize it was about ten stories tall. The Flash slammed his hand on top of yours, to be sure you weren't going to fall.

“Ah, I’m glad I caught you,” you said, as casually as you could muster. You were out of breath from your sprint here.

He kept his hand firmly pressed on yours and pointed with the other as he spoke, “I’m pretty sure I caught you.”

“No, that was more like a reverse high five than a catch. Or some sort of hand suplex. Just the move I’d expect from someone who looks that clumsy climbing up a building,” you said faster than you could think.

You stopped yourself from critiquing his form and said, “Sorry, this is hard to explain, but I was hoping you could help me out.”

“Would you mind having this conversation in a slightly less precarious position?”

“Precarious is leaving your coffee cup too close to the edge of a table” you said. “Lets call a spade a spade. This was plain stupid.”

Before he could say anything else, you ran your legs up the building, then jumped. You pivoted around his hand, freed yours and landed perfectly on the edge of the building with your left foot. You already knew your right foot was too far off. The second your right foot missed the roof, you jumped again off your left foot and landed a back flip with a smile on your face.

The Flash was frozen, still crouched at the edge of the building. He mumbled, “I have a couple questions.”

“I’m Y/N,” you said, sticking out your hand as your hair fell back around your shoulders.

“I’m Bar— I’m, buh, I’m not, I still have a couple more questions. How did you track me? It happened once but that was, well, that was Superman so it was surprising but it was surprising like getting presents on your birthday is surprising, which is to say, not at all. But still a surprise,” he said. “This was like getting presents on your court date. A little more surprising.”

He stood up and faced you, and now you were surprised. He shook your hand quickly and it wasn’t with the practiced elegance that Superman had on TV. He was young and inexperienced and very confused about you. You thought he would be more like Superman, but it turns out that he was a lot more like you.

You stared at him for a second longer. “What was the question again?”

“How did you see me at full speed?” he asked again.

“I call it photographic reflexes, but there might be something else too. Something, something happened to me. I didn’t notice it at first but things started changing slowly, then all at once I could so many new things. Yesterday I learned every dance move in Footloose,” you said. “I can see someone do something and then I can do it too.”

“You watch me run and then you can do what I do?” he asked, unconvinced.

“Not really, I can just copy you doing it. Not nearly as fast but just as well. You took 17 steps to get up the building. Thats nearly 2 steps per floor, and honestly, I could do it in 8 moves, but I could do it like you did too,” you said.

He just stared, mouth slightly open.

“You know that people think you teleport?” you continued.

Quickly, he stepped to the side and posed in a deep crouch beside you. He was testing your ability to see him move at super speed. You watched him casually and chatted while he did it.

“A few people who know more about these things suggested that you bend time. I didn’t think much off it until I saw you running down the street. I said to myself, I gotta talk to him.”

He moved to your other side now.

“Do you wear the mask to protect your secret identity?”

He moved to your center again and you decided it was time that he stop bouncing around and take you more seriously. Your mind worked quickly, sifting through loads of moves that would immobilize him without actually hurting him. But, as it happened, you didn’t have to think about it at all. When he slowed down just enough your reflexes took over and you grabbed his wrist and his waist, and twisted his arm around his back.

He yelped in surprise.

You said, “Caught you.”

He looked back at you with wide, serious eyes and muttered, “I gotta make a phone call.”

XX

He paced across the rooftop and stopped every once in a while to check on how the police were handling the men he disarmed. You watched his movements. Every wave of his arm your mind took a picture of and filed away. Every tilt of his head. It occurred to you that you could be an amazing actor using this technique if you so pleased. You still didn’t know what you wanted from life.

“SHE found ME,” he stressed to whoever was on the other end of the phone. “Kinda weird how you found where I lived but you can’t even confirm or deny that photographic reflexes are a thing? … I mean, I don’t know a lot of people … Risks? Yeah, she tried to jump off a building … Well, I agree with that. We can assess and start a file… I’ll tell her.”

He stuffed his phone back into his suit and said, “Batman wants to fight you.”

All the air left you lungs and you jumped to attention.

“Batman wants to fight me?” you asked, flabbergasted, and wondering if the Flash was joking.

“He keeps tabs on all everyone with abilities. We don’t have any tabs on you, so he wants to see what you can do. It won’t be a long fight, just long enough to get some notes on how much a threat or an ally you can be,” he replied, matter of factly.

“Batman,” you said, unconvinced.

He shrugged. “I was surprised when he first wanted to talk to me too. He wanted me for that thing in Russia, but that was before Superman came back. He handles a lot of the big stuff nowadays so I’m back to dealing with petty stuff and so is Batman.”

You pinched your eyebrows together, not sure if you should console him or congratulate him.

“It’s good the world isn’t ending anymore, but you know. Ya get bored. Batman spends his time scouting out new talent now. If you’re interested, he said to take the bus to the harbor in about two hours and climb up on top of the watch tower there,” he said.

You asked, “Will you be there?”

“Yes, but my money is on Batman. Nice to meet you, Y/N. Bring armor, if you got it!” he said, then he ran away, and as he passes you see his huge smile and his quick wave.


	2. Secrets Revealed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the fight with batman goes well! you only hope your date will go just as well

Just walking to the harbor in a leather jacket and boots felt silly (especially considering this was the armor you chose), so when you actually hid behind some boxes to get a better look at the tower you were going to meet Batman on, you could practically giggle. It was hard not to be excited, especially when you going to meet some amazing people. Your thoughts were so loud you could barely understand them. It was easier to be bubbly and excited than to deal with how incredibly stupid this was. You should be nervous. He wanted to see you fight, and the Flash did too. You’ve never been in any type of physical altercation before, let alone in a street fight with who was arguably the king of street fights. You shushed this train of thought. Why did you bother learning all these things if you didn’t intend to use them? 

You took a deep breath and slipped into a state of mind that was eerily quiet. Your body took the wheel and your mind took back seat. You darted out from your hiding place and made your first jump up the tower, trying to reach the maintenance ladder. Then you heard a short skrrrt, and you felt a presence.

You whipped your head around and landed in a defensive crouch. In your cross hairs was the Flash. He looked apologetic. You stood up straight and fixed your jacket, tossing your hair back over your shoulder. He looked even more apologetic.

“I thought no one was around,” you said, explaining your surprise. You started to climb the tower again.

“Oh, well, I wasn’t around. Until just now, that is. I just got here from Gotham, while I was there I decided to get this marinated mozzarella dish, and ooooh was it marinated,” he said. 

He paused for a second and you paused too. Then, you felt the fight just leave you, you felt that predator state of mind slither away.

At this point, you felt that you had completely lost your nerve. Maybe the adrenaline wore off, maybe listening to the Flash made you sensible. Whatever it was, you didn’t feel like fighting, climbing, or showing off. You felt like eating gourmet food. You felt like sitting down.

“I’m so out of my league,” you said, turning away from him. You turned back and said, “You went to Gotham and back in two hours?”

“No, no no don’t feel bad, you aren’t here because you are fast. That position is filled,” he said, pointing to himself. “You are here because… I might be breaking some sort of protocol actually you should just climb the tower and put Batman in an arm bar or a half nelson. I don’t know a lot about combat, I usually just push people and run away.” He looked at you like he was waiting for some sign that he said the right thing.

This time last year you were still in school, you had never hurt a fly, you were still you. Now, you had no idea who you were or what you were or why. Flash, somehow, was a shining light of normalcy. Had you been copying people for so long that you forgot how to be yourself? You tried to think of something normal to say back. The accident changed everything, and you decided right then that you hated change.

He continued talking, “Okay, forget protocol. Here is the thing. We don’t have a man on the ground. An inside source. Cyborg, he is way too conspicuous for on-the-ground spying, even though he leads most of the remote spying. Aquaman has as much tact as a fish out of water. Basically, we are in the market for a spy. Someone who can chase people across rooftops like you did me, who can infiltrate parties and businesses, take down guards quietly, blend in anywhere.”

“What makes you think I can do all those things? What have you learned?” you asked him suspiciously. He seemed to have a firm grasp on what was going on here, when hours ago you both were clueless.

“See, this is why I can’t fill the spy job,” he said, then searched for the words to continue.

You were still trying to think of something you would say to him.

Faster than Flash could form his next sentence, there was a figure behind him.

You reacted without thinking, and with a smile you relished in the deadly silence in your mind that was back. You pulled the Flash toward you then spun around him, placing yourself between whoever that was and him. You recognized this defensive move from a movie you watched earlier that week. It was funny, because watching the movie was supposed to be a break from learning skills. You lowered your crouch and stared confidently at THE Batman. Your smile only faded when you realized that the Flash didn’t realize he was being protected, that he didn’t even need protecting. He stood behind you with his hands up like he was in trouble. You shrugged as if to say, “Sorry about that.” He waved his hand as if to reply, “It’s fine, happens all the time.” But he didn’t let his arms drop. You were smiling at his goofy stance in your mind, but your mouth did not even twitch.

“I was looking forward to a fight with a view,” you said, gesturing to the tower and Batman.

Batman replied, “I decided to bring the fight to you.”

“How much do you know about me? He didn’t know anything before. Now he knows a lot, and I assume its because he had a conversation with you,” you pressed, laying all your cards on the table.

Flash shrugged under Batman’s glare.

Batman gave in and said, “We know about the accident. I know what happened to the others. We had been waiting to find out what happened to you.”

“You ready to find out?’ you challenged. Anything to stop the current conversation, anything to go back to that silent place.

“Don’t hold back,” Batman replied.

He started in on you first. You read his moves as he did them and applied the appropriate counters. You stepped strategically to keep a balanced, strong base. You forced his swings to glance off you and never took a full hit. He liked to swing down from the top. All these mundane moves were simply stalling. You were picking up on his fighting style.

“Okay,” you said, blocking a blow to your chin, “here is what you can do.”

You switched into his fighting style as easily as switching radio stations. You went onto the offensive. Every blow he sent your way, you sent back. It was nearly a perfect replication. He caught on to this, and anticipated your downward strike, so you switched back into a technical and patient form that was mostly defensive.

Batman jumped back to pause the fight.

You took this time to say, “There are no videos of your fights. I’m glad I could copy what you showed me today. You are quite good at what you do. You know, when I decided I wanted to defend myself I watched videos of Superman so that I could be as good as him, but his technique is not what makes him good, that is all I will say.”

He didn’t look flattered at being compared as better than Superman. He didn’t react at all.

You continued, “Do you want to guess who my favorite fighting style comes from?”

Flash was muttering, “Oh, so the photographic— yes! That is why she can see me in speed force! The photography!”

Batman sunk just a hair lower into his defensive stance.

Flash said louder, “I know mine! It's Wonder Woman.”

“Bingo,” you said, and launched at Batman.

You swung with your legs and your arms, spinning but never leaving your back truly exposed, just like Wonder Woman. The footage you watched was limited, but you learned enough to supplement the parts you weren’t sure of. 

Batman blocked as many hits as he took, but damn could he take a hit. The only con to her style was she was prone to head hits from pretty much all sides. She adjusted for this by simply having a skull made of unbreakable iron, but you didn’t have that luxury. You adjusted for this by never slowing down enough for Batman to get a hit in. He turned the tide after a few heavy hits though, as you knew he would. You let your foot slip out of the perfect stance, you let your center of balance get away from you. You looked like you were about to lose your grip on this style. But you knew the weaknesses of this style, and you figured he could pick them out too, so you figured out a way to overcome them. When he swung for your head you were ready.

You flung your hands up, palms open, to cover most of your face and you jerked away, but at just the right angle so that Batman could see your "genuine" fear expression. You let your knees buckle just a hair and you even let out a frightened, no, a terrified squeal. And just as you hoped, Batman hesitated.

You grabbed him by his armpit and brought him to the ground. You put your knee on his shoulder and grinned down at him.

“Cheater,” Batman said, “that isn’t how Wonder Woman finishes a fight.”

You nodded. No, that was how you finished it. Batman was more than capable of continuing the fight of course, and finishing it his way, but he wasn’t there to beat you. He was there to see what you were capable of. You had shown him a small piece of the power that was taking over your life.

There was something intoxicating about learning a new skill. To become proficient at it so quickly. Even in school when you would finally understand how to do the homework, or you finally came up with the topic of that paper you would get a feeling of accomplishment. Compared to that, this feeling was like heroin. Fighting Batman with his own style was a bold move, something you would relish forever, but you couldn’t help but feel hungry for more. You wanted to learn more, to master more. You yearned for that feeling of accomplishment. You clenched your fist. You wanted to fight more.

“Geez,” Flash said, walking up to you two. “I could practically see the moment he was like ‘I’m fighting a boring robot’ and then ‘Wow, I’m fighting myself!’ and then even I was like ‘He is fighting Wonder Woman!’ and then the moment he remembered ‘I’m fighting a baby!’ and then you just flipped him!”

You forgot about your ambition as you listened to him ramble. First of all, there was no way Flash could read Batman’s facial reaction about the fight. There weren’t any, the man was a stoic machine. They must know each other pretty well, and Flash must be much more observant than you would have guessed. You thought about what your face gave away to someone who really knew you, or to someone who knew what to look for. You realized that the silence was gone. You were done fighting. You thought how funny it would be if you… 

You turned, gave the Flash a disapproving look, and pressed your knee harder into Batman’s shoulder. His armor was thickest there, so that didn’t hurt him at all, it just improved your delivery. Your said in a casual, yet threatening tone, “Did you just call me a baby?”

Flash’s eyes went huge, and he stood stunned.

You cracked a grin at his reaction. He grabbed his chest and let all the air out of his lungs when he realized you were joking. He grinned back at you. You smiled wider and your felt weirdly normal, for having just flipped Batman, that is.

He pointed at you and said, “Alright, this one has the tricks. Noted. Yeah, I think we found our spy.”

You stood up and offered Batman your hand. You pulled him to his feet in a show of good sportsmanship.

He said, “We had to move quickly with the rest of the league. Time was of the essence, the world was in danger. Things are different now. We have layers and protocols for recruiting.”

Flash said, “Ah, come on! My entire initiation was you throwing a batarang at me and I turned out alright! After what you just saw, including the end there, you think it is too fast to—“

“Yes,” he cut him off.

“The event is next week. If you aren’t sure about her, fine, but if you want her to be ready I think you should start the briefing and the training and the protocol manual reading as soon as possible,” Flash said.

“I know,” he said, then he faced you completely. “We want you on for this job.” He turned back to Flash. “That is the first layer. Nobody gets on the team until we go through everything.”

You looked between them and said, “A job is a job. I can learn any skill, but doing just one of them is so boring. I was looking for something that would utilize all of me. That wasn’t easy, to find something like that. Something challenging, you know? I have a feeling this is it.”

Flash said, “Eventually, yes. It starts off with a lot more reading than you would expect from a super group. A lot more reading. International laws, team building stuff, personality theory, whatever is relevant to the task at hand. Hey, do you have a regular photographic memory? As in, you remember everything you’ve ever read?”

You shook your head no.

He said, “Me neither. I’m lucky if I remember what country we are headed to. Then, I usually just hang back and wait for instructions.”

“The fastest man alive waits?” you asked in a fake-shocked voice.

He considered that for a moment, then said, “Fastest man alive. I like the sound of that.”

He smiled at you and you smiled back.

When you turned back, Batman was gone.

Flash noticed this too and said, “He didn’t even say where to meet! Or if I could come!”

You crossed your arms. “Maybe he wants to find out how good my mind reading powers are.”

He looked at you curiously and said, “Wait, you are joking, right?”

You smirked at him.

“Whew, alright, that had me worried because…,” he finished his sentence with an awkward cough.

He paused for a second, debating something. Then he turned to you, quickly.

“I’m Barry,” he said.

You were stunned. So easily he gave away his secret identity. “Why…” you trailed off.

“Because I’m about to take my mask off,” he replied.

He reached up and pulled his red mask off from the back. When he turned back to you, his dark brown hair was sticking up at the top, and you could see his face.

You thought you knew what he looked like without the mask, most of his features were still showing anyways, but you were wrong. He really was your age and his eyes were more intelligent now. It was like he was looking at you for the first time. You were looking at him like it was the last time you would ever see him.

You stomach did something funny.

“Are you hungry, Barry?” you asked on a whim.

“Oh, always!” he replied.


	3. Dinner plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> short chapter mostly setting up for the next chapter! read this and then get ready for a training montage!!!

You stood completely still as Barry swung his arms. You were under the impression that secret identities were more secret than that. He tossed the mask from hand to hand casually. You wondered if that was something you should consider. A mask. You wondered what it felt like to carry a secret that big.

He said, “The first thing you should know is I am terrible at the undercover stuff.”

You gave him a questioning look. “Okay?”

“I also figured out, I think, why it appears that you can see me in the speed force,” he said.

The word “appears” stuck out to you. “Have you?” you respond.

“That happened to me too. One power can do a lot more than just one thing. All I have is the speed force but the way it works is like, way more than what I thought,” he said, moving the conversation along.

You reached out and grabbed his wrist that was holding the mask, and he stopped dead in his train of thought. He quietly looked at you.

“Why do you wear a mask if it doesn’t matter?” you asked, still wondering why he revealed himself so easily.

He considered this for moment. “The air friction would probably rip my hair off.”

You let go of his wrist and let out a soft, “Oh.”

There was a moment of silence, and he felt compelled to fill it. “I mean, Superman has a secret identity because of the people he has to protect. Batman, well his secret identity, there is a lot going on there, a lot of people know him. For me, there isn’t any of that. There is less at stake.”

He said it like he had the easy route, like he should feel grateful. You could see there was another layer, like he was still only convincing himself. You searched his face for a hint of what it was. He didn’t shy away from your gaze, but he didn’t give anything away.

“Do you think I should get a mask for the job next week?” you asked.

He shook his head. “No, we are going as civilians. If it goes to plan they won’t even know we were there.”

You tilted your head. “We?”

“Like I said, you should know I’m not very good at the undercover stuff. Also you have to be the one to hold the key cards” he said.

You couldn’t help but smirk at that. That was something you were sure you could handle.

He continued, “Early on, before we even called ourselves the Justice League, they had me pose as military personnel and break into this base. I didn’t mess it up, so ever since then when we need to someone to get in unnoticed or undercover, its been me. I can do it, well enough, but the tasks have been escalating. Next week is the toughest yet. I’ve been pushing, and Diana and Cyborg are behind me on this, for the team to pick up a new member. A spy.”

“Are the others against it?” you asked.

“They aren’t against it, but Diana knows it takes a special set of skills and a special type of person to be a good spy. She used to know one, you see. And Cyborg, he is the one who reroutes the security cameras when I make a wrong turn, who gets my badges to work even when the static I make causes them to fry. He deserves a more competent team member.”

You bit your lip for a second, then said, “And you guys are sure about this? About me?”

“I am. And Batman will be too, if he isn’t already.”

“At least someone is,” you said.

“I feel good about this! Batman is literally never wrong,” he said, giving you a reassuring squeeze on the elbow.

"Right, but was he not going to tell us where to meet next? I though he wanted to train me tomorrow too," you asked.

"He'll probably text me later tonight. Meanwhile, let's get that dinner you mentioned," Barry said.

XXXX

There weren't many places to eat open at this hour. That is how you ended up in a Mexican bar and restaurant. Barry, now wearing civilian clothes, sat next to you in the booth instead of across from you. He insisted on sitting next to you in order to spare you from having to “stare down the barrel of a food massacre.” You didn’t argue.

He talked quickly about getting struck by lightning, how it sped up everything, including his metabolism. You wanted to ask questions but he sped right past them.

He talked so easily about the events that lead to him getting powers. You admired that. You did everything possible to avoid even thinking about what happened to you. Still, if he could share these things, maybe you could too. You wanted to move past it, eventually. Perhaps Barry could help you start.

“I haven’t been out to eat like this since the accident,” you began. 

You bit your lip. You didn’t mean for that to sound so depressing.

Barry glanced sideways at you and shrugged. “Takes a while to adjust. They didn’t tell me about what happened to you, you know.”

“I don’t remember much, honestly. I’d be interested to know what they know. I got hit in the head and I remember my ears were ringing so loud that it wasn’t even loud anymore. I couldn’t even hear my heart beat. That is pretty much all that stuck with me,” you said.

You could hear your heartbeat now. You grabbed a sip of your water and stared ahead at the cheesy decorations on the wall. You felt relieved to have said something about it, but if you listened hard enough you could hear that same ringing.

You felt Barry squeeze your hand, or more accurately, he squeezed the outside of your hand. Your hands were balled up into fists. You took another deep breath. You did feel better.

Baby steps, you told yourself. You’d be able to talk about it fully someday. As for today, you just had to enjoy a well earned enchilada dinner.

And it was nice to hear him ramble. It took your mind off of other things. He was excited about working together, and either his excitement was infectious or you were actually excited too. 

He managed to talk about several things at once, something you weren't sure was possible before meeting him. He started a story, started another story, told a different one that ended the first two, then tied all three together with a fourth subject. Eventually, from a story that started as a funny grocery store experience, his rambling moved on to something you meant to talk about. He told you about his theory on how you were able to see him at speed force. Apparently, photographic reflexes was not a good enough explanation for him.

“I think you already know, if only subconsciously, where I am going to be. That is how you know where to look. There is this thing called precognition, and it means you can see the future just a few seconds ahead, and only if its important. You knew what move Batman was going to make before he made it!”

“I can’t see the future,” you said with certainty.

“Not right now. I think right now you can only react to it. But hey,” he said, “its just a theory.”

You shook your head and wondered if he was too smart for his own good. Time would tell if he was right.

When it was time to part ways, you still hadn’t heard from Batman what the next move was. Instead of waiting the whole night, Barry gave you his number and promised to call you when he knew where to meet Batman next.

“You’ll be there too, right?” you asked, hoping not to sound too much like a child.

“Course I’ll be there. I can’t miss you flipping Batman again,” he said, smiling.

Then he flashed away and you took a cab back to your room. You spelt soundly for the first time in forever. You could tell that things were looking up, you knew tomorrow was going to be great. You thought about Barry’s theory. You had a good feeling about him too.


	4. The Shed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Barry has some bad news, you get to see a secret hideout, and you have to come with an airtight plan.

You sat down to breakfast and forced yourself to eat. You were too nervous to eat, but you needed energy for whatever training you were going to do today. You figured it would be more of Batman trying to figure out what you are capable of, but that didn’t narrow down the unknown at all. Barry texted you sometime that night where while you were sleeping. All it had was an address and a time, and even though you just met him you felt that was oddly out of character. Regardless, you put on vaguely athletic gear and comfortable shoes and walked to the address.

When you arrived at the location, you checked your phone again, because there was no way this was the right place. It was a mostly empty railroad yard and you didn’t see anyone. It was nothing like the maze of the harbor from last night. It was a huge, open space.

Your eyes traced across the environment and landed on a figure laying face up on the only building in the yard. Their legs were hanging off the edge of the building and you immediately began to analyze their movements. As soon as you recognized that it was Barry, you laughed to yourself and casually walked up to the building. He was swinging his legs and obviously didn’t notice you arrived. It was quite charming.

You got close and when he still didn’t notice, you rattled the steel wall of the building to get his attention.

He startled, going from sitting to standing in a burst of lightning.

“Geez, warn a guy before you go sneaking up him,” he said, removing one ear bud. He looked relieved to see that it was you, but there was a drag on his smile.

“That was your warning,” you said. You wanted to ask him what had him so jumpy, but instead you smiled and asked, “What are you listening to?”

“80s pop, only the best jams for the morning,” he answered.

You nodded, “Cyndi Lauper and the like?”

He shrugged and said, “Yeah, its what my mom used to play before I went off to school. I can’t hardly start my day without it now.”

“Are you sure you’re on the right playlist?” you asked him, “Because to me you look, I don’t know, you seem deflated.”

He took his other earbud out and stuffed them in his pocket, and with the way he was avoiding eye contact, you braced yourself for bad news.

He climbed down from the top of the structure and wiped his hands off on his jeans. He put them together and tried to speak, changed his mind, then tried again.

“So, Batman isn’t going to help with your training. None of them are. Don’t panic, but I’m going to do it. I can teach you what little I know, but I don’t think it will be enough. And I have no idea where to even start because I am not some sort of magic sensei! I don’t know anything about fighting or spying really, I told Batman that, and he said you could fix your own techniques. That may be true, but I just…” he trailed off, looking expectantly at you. “There is no way that I can train you to become a spy in a week. I can’t even train myself to do it. I’m willing to try, but I’m on my own. Except for Victor, Victor said he would help us day of with any tech stuff we might need. Other than that, I’m on my own.”

You thought for a moment. Did this mean disaster for the mission? You didn’t see how it still couldn’t work with just the two of you. If anything, there was less to go wrong with a smaller group.

“Well, you are right that I don’t need traditional training. I can do any skill we need to get the job done as long as I can see it done once first. Or if its similar enough I could make it work. But you are wrong that you are alone on this. We are doing this together. So, all we really need to figure out, I suppose, is what I need to know how to do. I don’t have to become a full-blown, 8 language speaking, bomb-defusing, bullet-dodging spy in a week. I just have to be able to do this one job.”

Barry crossed his arms and nodded. He uncrossed his arms and stepped closer to you.

“That is a bit less daunting, thank you,” he said. “So you still want to do this even though it will just be us.”

You beamed a bit, feeling relieved that that was the extent of the bad news. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“Okay, so we don’t need a Matrix level training program, we just need a plan,” he decided.

“So, let’s make one,” you agreed.

Barry walked around to the front of the building and gestured for you to follow him. “I have all the details on my computer inside.”

“Wait,” you said, suddenly confused, “Is this is your secret hideout? This shed?”

“It only looks like a shed from the outside!” Barry said.

He pulled open the steel door and you followed him into, yes, it was definitely a shed. It was a big shed, but you had to call a spade a spade. He had transformed the inside quite well, though the nature of the building could not be changed. The graffitied walls and ceiling bounced sounds around strangely, there were no windows, and the floor was cold concrete.

He had a row of computer monitors on his desk so large it needed two chairs. It was less of a desk and more like a dinner table to seat 25. There were stacks of books on it too, enough to fill two book shelves. His Flash suit was standing neatly posed on a crash test dummy. Behind that was a series of drawings that looked like a child’s rendering of his costume. The wall of monitors was dense enough that you couldn’t see what the rest of the room looked like.

“Nicest shed I’ve ever been in,” you commented.

“It isn’t a shed!” he insisted.

“Hey Barry, why’d you put your secret hideout in a shed?” you asked, teasing him more.

“All the castles were full, princess,” he teased back. “At least it isn’t a cave. Actually, I take that back. The coolest hideout I’ve ever been in is in a cave.”

You peaked around the giant desk and saw a mattress propped up on some crates, surrounded by stacks of crates filled with clothes. You bit your lip. This wasn’t just his hideout. He lived here. How was that even legal?

“Whoa, not a hideout,” you amended, “This is Casa del Barry.”

“Yeah, we won’t talk about where I’m rerouting the power from,” he shrugged.

“So, this is approximately five times cooler than where I live so I’ll give you that, even if this is a shed. I have a wooden stool in my room, I sit on that and place my laptop on my bed as a desk, then I watch videos of people performing tasks until my eyes bleed,” you said.

“Do you have running water?” he asked.

You nodded.

“Then I’d call it a draw,” he said.

“I don’t know. I could get a lot more done in here,” you replied.

You stood in front of the monitors and held out your hands out like a visionary imaging her masterpiece. “The World Kung Fu Championships on that screen, the Olympic Archery trials on that one, with Fencing below it, a parkour montage next to that, Instructional Helicopter Piloting video there, Sign Language translations there,” you very nearly sighed, “Imagine how much I could learn in an hour.”

“Is it really like that for you?” Barry asked, standing behind you.

“I see and suddenly I know. I don’t have to think about, in fact, it works faster if I don’t think about it. I’m limited physically, though. If I am too weak or too slow or not flexible enough then I won’t be able to do it. That happened a lot at first. I’m more in shape now, so I can do most things a human can do,” you said, dropping your hands and turning to face him.

“That’s amazing,” he said. “You could be the best at anything.”

“Not the best,” you said, shaking your head. “I can only copy what others have done, so I will never be the best at anything, only tied with the best.”

“Still, out of all those things, why would choose this?” he asked.

You mulled the question over for a moment. “I didn’t know at first. When I saw you running on the street, I just started running too. Now, that I’ve had some time to think it over, this is the only way I can use my ability to its fullest potential. Would you be fulfilled if you joined a track team?”

He shook his head. “No, my power is multidimensional, literally it is another dimension. I see what you mean now. I didn’t choose this either, but I feel like it is what I was meant to do.”

You nodded.

Barry smiled. “So could you show me how it works? Give me an example? I believe you, I just want to see you in action.”

You said, “Sure, show me anything.”

Barry smiled a devious, childishly excited smile. He pulled up the music video to this Korean song, skipped to the middle, and had you watch one of the dancers for a solid forty five seconds. 

You began to process the muscle movements without even trying. The music dulled to your eyes, the colors faded, all you saw was joints, muscles, movements. This was no longer a human, but a text book for you to memorize, then recite. You felt your skin crawl at how dissociated from humanity you could get while using your ability.

Then, you were distracted. Barry was humming along and bouncing his knee to the music. You remembered that there was music playing, that this was more like a joke than a job. You glanced at Barry for a second, keeping the dancer in your peripheral. He was smiling, absorbed in the story she was telling. You took a deep breath and tried to see what he saw.

The dancer was good. She was having fun, she was selling the song, she was flirting and happy. The song was so upbeat and poppy too that you realized with dawning horror that while you could do that exact choreography, you could never pull it off. You didn’t know if you could muster enough girlish spirit to even begin to dance like her.

“I’ll do literally anything else,” you begged when the song ended, your cheeks suddenly flushed with embarrassment. “I can do a backflip, you want to see a backflip? What about a Kyokushin wheel kick? I can do a 540 roundhouse? Those are hard.”

“Oh, no, I want to see the process from seeing to doing myself. It has to be this, because I’m fairly sure this is completely new to you,” he insisted.

You sighed and pointed at him, “Fine. You put that music on as loud as it will go and I’ll do that dance one time. Once.”

He hopped over the to the speaker and turned it up to max volume and started the song. You were hoping it would drown out your second thoughts, and it did for the most part. When the middle of the song arrived, the dance breakdown, you did every stupid hairlip, hip swing, and each step in what was ultimately quite complex choreography. Now that you were doing it, you could see how this was a good judge of your skill at picking up talents.

As soon as you hit your last pose, Barry thumbed the space bar to pause the music. He stared at you, open mouthed.

“Seeing is believing,” he said.

“And you will never see that again! Is your curiosity satisfied now?” you said, trying to change the subject.

“Not even close, but we do have other matters to attend to,” he said.

You took your jacket off, feeling hot from the dance and the embarrassment and sat in the chair opposite Barry. He pulled up pictures on the monitor between you and scrolled through them, laying out the mission as clearly as he could.

What they needed was information from a court case file, an old one. Lex Luther’s criminal trial was making its way through appeals, and for some reason his lawyers were pulling up this one, old case for review, but never using it in the court room. They brought the file to Luther in prison so that he could assist in his own defense, then they picked it back up Saturday night. Your mission was to find out what was in that file. It wasn’t in the computers, so the team didn’t even know which case it was, but they were sure that the contents were now switched out with something new. The lawyers routine was like clockwork, and Barry had maps of the paths that they they took to the prison, how many guards there were, what kind of vehicle they drove.

Barry and you had everything you needed to make a plan. You just had to figure out where to start.

“This could take a while,” you observed, leaning back in your chair.

Barry said, “You have no idea.”

“I hope you have coffee,”

Barry said, “I don’t. Everyone I’ve ever met has told me to avoid it. I’m twitchy enough as it is.”

You said, “You are not twitchy, you are just full of life. It confuses people. I think its…” You paused for moment, then just said what you were feeling. “When I am processing new skills, I’m so focused. Everything gets quiet. It can be unnerving, that intense silence. You are like a reminder that there are other things out there, a whole picture that I sometimes can’t see. It is nice to be reminded of that.”

Barry looked away for a second, then back at you. “Thanks for saying that. Tomorrow, we drink coffee!”

You worked on the plan with Barry for the rest of the afternoon. You did most of the drawing and typing since Barry was constantly pulling snacks out of nowhere and eating while working. Your drawings were more accurate. You had perfect control over straight lines and curves from watching artists draw in videos. His typing was much faster, still you ended up transcribing most of what you planned.

When it was way past lunch time, you two had almost decided if you wanted to steal the files or simply take pictures of them and leave them undisturbed. Almost. This was going to take a while, that much was true.

After lunch, when you erased the third pro-con list for stealing the files just outside of the prison versus various places while the vans were en route, you were almost sure that this was an impossible task.

“Barry, I don’t know,” you stated.

Barry stopped pacing for a second and looked at you. He faced you, crossed his ankles, then dropped to sit cross legged on the floor. He pressed his hands to his temples.

His voice was muffled through his hands, but he said, “Can we stop now?”

You leaned back in your chair. You tossed your head back and bounced while you breathed. “Let’s take a break. I need sunlight, and I need coffee.”

Barry let out a deep sigh.

You reached your arm back and suddenly, you felt zero gravity. No, your chair was tipping over! You gasped and flung your arm back, but before you could catch yourself, Barry was above you. He gripped the chair on both sides and out of instinct you reached out and grabbed his arms for your dear life.

He had both his hands on the side of your chair and you looked bewildered up at him.

“This is my favorite chair,” he said, his voice so close you felt it. “How could you tip it over?”

You swallowed and tried to answer, but found yourself utterly out of words. Your brain was fried from problem solving. You let go of your vice grip on Barry and mumbled something akin to an apology. He righted the chair and you stood as soon it hit the ground, nearly bumping heads with him.

“Coffee,” you repeated, as an excuse for your bumbling around.

That was your catchphrase for the rest of the week. You two worked through every detail, and disagreements between you turned out to be helpful, because then you both worked through the scenario thoroughly and eventually arrived at what was truly the best option, and not just the first option either of you thought of. In this way, iron sharpened iron, and you felt that when Saturday rolled around, you might just pull this off.


	5. They get in trouble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You finally meet Victor! It's not under the best of circumstances, but its cool because nothing phases Victor anyways. And I finally got to a Big Plot Point I've been meaning to get to so thats fun >:)

You stood on the street corner waiting for Barry to find you.

You had initiated the plan and it went fine. While Barry watched for his cue from the top of the closest building, you had walked up to the van full of armed guards at a red light and, as casually as possible, broke the window, pulled the door open, subdued the driver. You used enough force to put him out, but not enough to really injure him. Then all you had to do was distract the rest of the people in the van while Barry flashed in, took a video of the contents of the file, which streamed directly to Victor, then he would distract them while you ran off, then he’d follow you.

You felt it went well, especially since the only evidence of the attack was a broken van window. The idea was for them to not even realize what you took. This was supposed to be quick, quiet, and why was it taking Barry so long to get here?

You pulled out your cell phone and realized something was wrong with it. The screen was completely black, then white text popped up.

“Y/N”

You tapped the screen and nothing happened.

“Say nothing. Act normal. They can see you.”

You let out a breath, first quickly out of panic, then you deliberately slowed it to a calm exhale. You pretended to scroll down your phone screen and stared intently at it.

“Take evasive action.”

You started walking. You didn’t know which direction. It could have been into the middle of the road for all you could think. You instinctively knew it was Victor directing you. You hadn’t met him in person yet, but you had communicated with him about this mission over black screens with white text. You were all aware that this was a possibility, that the contents of that file and Luther’s lawyers movements were so sensitive to him that he had spies watching. The good news is that they probably didn’t see Barry at all. He was probably fine. The bad news was that meant all their focus was on you. But if Barry was fine, why hadn’t he found you yet? You had no idea how many, where, or who they were.

Take evasive action meant find a public place and disappear. You had to find a bar.

Once you found your way to the boulevard it was a simple as following your ears. You walked in to the loudest, crowded-est, shittiest bar on the street. You stood in line for the restroom to wait out the tail.

After ten minutes of waiting you were nearly at a loss of what to do.

From your phone: “Current location blown. Take evasive action again.”

You searched for your exit. The back door of the bar.

You bust through the door into the alley and immediately began to climb up the building. You felt your phone buzz in your pocket but you were a bit busy to check it. Your hands were shaking, not enough to impede your climbing, but enough that you realized you were afraid. You didn't feel scared, but your body was reacting like you were. 

When you lifted yourself onto the roof you realized your mistake. Someone was already on top of the building. You couldn’t pinpoint where, or how you knew, but you had to get away. You took off running and leaped across the gap to the next building. You felt something grab your ankle, then you felt it catch. You stifled a scream as you were lassoed back onto the rooftop. You landed flat across the gap of the buildings. Before you could scramble across you felt the rope twist around both of your feet. You pulled against it as hard as you could, using the ledge of the building as leverage. That was a losing battle, so you switched tactics.

You pulled your knife and in one motion tried to cut the rope and forward roll into a defensive position, but the rope wouldn’t cut. It was made of some sort of metal laced fiber. You frantically sawed at it until you gave up and started to untie yourself. But it was too late. The threat was upon you.

It swooped forward and yanked you back across the gap by the rope. There was just enough light for you see who was on the other end. It was Batman.

“Jesus! I’m trying to ditch a tail! Are you trying to get me caught? We have to go!” you pleaded.

“I am the tail. And I already caught you.”

You froze, confused by this, then you saw your phone.

The screen said, “I didn’t know you that you didn’t know.”

Nothing made sense.

“Where is Barry?” you asked.

Victor didn’t answer. Batman did.

“We all have a lot to discuss,” he said simply.

You didn’t like him dodging that question. 

You heard the helicopter before you saw it. Batman was mostly ignoring you. He didn’t say a word even as he put you in handcuffs and dragged you aboard. He closed the door and you couldn't see the city. You had no idea where you were heading. You sat in your seat absolutely stunned and sure that you had no idea what was going on. Batman stoically refused to answer any of your questions. Something was wrong, because passing your first mission did not warrant this kind of treatment.

You tried to think rationally. You knew at least ten different ways to get out of handcuffs and you systematically went through each one. When you finally undid the lock you contemplated hiding it until the moment was right, then escaping. But you didn’t want to escape, you wanted answers. You wanted to know what happened to Barry.

You pulled your hands from behind your back and shifted in your seat so you could sit comfortably. You tossed the handcuffs casually to Batman. They glinted red as they flew to him. He caught them and said nothing, you looked down at your hands. You palms were bloody with road rash, from catching yourself when Batman tripped you. You picked gravel out of your palms and made a mental note to wear gloves next time. God, you hoped there would be a next time. You tried Batman again.

“Handcuffs,” you muttered. “Child’s play.”

No response.

“What did I do to deserve those?” you asked. “Is that the kind of treatment all recruits get? Did something happen to Barry or are you just hazing me?”

Batman replied, “You misunderstand.”

“Would you mind clarifying, then?” you asked.

He didn’t respond. When the helicopter landed he jumped out and stalked outside. You followed him. It had landed on top of a huge building, a mansion, judging by the architecture. You followed him through a door and down the stairs. Batman lead you to a huge hall with massive, dark windows. At the center was a big, round table with six chairs, but room for more.

Victor, you immediately knew it was Victor even though he was in a sweatsuit, as he was still THE Cyborg, was standing at the end of the table with his eyes closed.

Sitting next to him, looking miserable but perfectly safe, was Barry.

You called out, “Barry!”

He looked up and some of that sadness melted away. He smiled a little and stood up. You ran across the room and wrapped him in a hug. 

He tightened his arms around you and said softly, “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“I’m so glad you’re not dead. Oh, God. I thought…” you said in relief.

Barry pulled away and held you at arm’s length. “I’m sorry,” he repeated with emphasis.

You looked at him, searching his eyes for what was wrong. “For… what?”

Batman stood close to the entrance. He said, “I brought you here for disobeying direct orders and putting the league at risk.”

Victor spoke first. “You know where I stand on this. I showed you my calculations. I needed more data to complete a proper analysis.”

Batman said, “And I told you what my own analysis was.”

“Based on less than ten minutes,” Barry interrupted.

“If nothing else from this week, we got the information we need to actually consider her,” Victor said.

You said, “Wait, what?”

Barry turned to you and said, “I’m sorry I had to lie. I didn’t see another way.”

You gave him a confused look.

He continued, “Batman declined your admission. You aren't being recruited at all.”

“There were too many unknowns. You have great skill, its nothing personal. Just a call we had to make,” Batman stated.

“I don’t care about that. I know she is the one. I can feel it, I can just tell. This mission should prove it,” Barry said.

Victor added, “It was a complete success.”

“I knew that if I just gave her a chance,” Barry said, “that she could do a lot of good. If we gave her a chance.”

“That isn’t your decision to make,” Batman said.

“I didn’t have any other choice,” Barry said, shrugging, not casually, but like he was repeating himself for the umpteenth time.

He looked defeated, but dedicated, like a captain going down with his ship. Victor seemed more driven by logic and curiosity. Barry seemed motivated more by loyalty.

Batman stood silent for a moment. Then he said, “I’m keeping you all here until I can discuss this with the others. It won’t take more than 48 hours. And please, don’t keep her in the dark any longer.”

He walked out the front door and your heard some electricity buzz to life.

Victor mumble, “Oh, good. He’s using the security system to keep us in here. As if I can’t hack this security system. As if I haven’t already hacked this security system!”

Barry sat back down at the table and dropped his head into his hands. He let out a sigh.

You couldn’t sit down. Too much has happened. Victor seemed calm enough, and you were suddenly thankful for him. His simple defiance of authority was so normal. You had a lot to still work through.

“You have about thirty seconds to explain everything,” you said.

Barry looked to Victor then turned to you.

“When Batman said he wasn’t going to pursue further training with you, I thought, no, I knew he was wrong. I figured that if we just completed the mission anyways that he’d realize his mistake and then, none of this would matter, because league would take you on as a recruit,” Barry said.

“That is why you lied to them. But why did you lie to me?” you asked, trying to hide your hurt.

Victor said, “You two were my best bet at getting the information from Luther’s lawyers. I don’t care who gets the job done as long as it gets done. I’ll admit I was curious about your potential. But honestly, I didn’t even consider the fact he didn’t tell you the full story. I obviously never thought to do it myself.”

You waited for Barry to answer. He was staring intently ahead, seemingly spaced out.

You stepped closer to him and squeezed his shoulder. “When you didn’t come, and then Victor warned me I was being followed, I thought for sure that you got hurt. And after I knew it was Batman, I still couldn’t figure why he was treating me like a criminal. I figured you were badly hurt and that it was my fault”

Barry said, “I know, I'm sorry. I just didn’t want to you think you were unwanted. I lied because I had to be sure that you’d still try. I wanted you to try.”

You said, “I’m not mad, I’m just pissed.”

Victor crossed his arms and said, “I don’t…”

“I’m not mad at you for keeping me in the dark, not really. I’m mad because I thought I was going to have to go on some sort of avenging mission! I don’t know! This is a lot to deal with,” you said, beginning to pace across the room.

Barry offered, “Maybe we should get dinner.”

Victor observed, “You’re experiencing an adrenaline rush.”

“Right,” you said, “that explains why I can’t sit down.”

Barry stood and he crossed the room to you. He stopped your pacing by lightly grabbing your elbow and he looked at you, searching for sincerity, for acceptance, for forgiveness. He found it. You looked for loyalty, for the future, for a sign that everything would be ok. You found it.

You hugged each other again, this time closer.

Barry turned back to Victor and said, “So, could you tell how bad it is with Batman?”

“It’s bad. I’ve never been on house arrest here before, even after I sent that virus through his computer,” Victor said. “His blood pressure was up though, which I take as a good sign. When he knows he is right, his pulse barely rises.”

“So he is second guessing himself?” Barry asked.

“Yes, and that is what is pissing him off, if I had to guess,” he replied.

“That is good news for me, then,” you admitted.

“Good news for all of us,” Victor said.

XXXX

Victor doesn’t need to eat, so he just kept you company as you and Barry ate dinner and came down from the adrenaline high of the mission. The pantry was huge but Barry’s expertise in this kitchen meant he knew exactly where everything was. You sat on the countertop while Barry got everything together. He discussed the full situation with Victor and you just thought things over.

You certainly couldn't be mad at Victor, as he really didn't mean to lie. You decided that you couldn’t be mad at Barry for lying either. You were actually extremely grateful to him despite it. He took a huge risk to give you this chance. What you wanted to know most of all was why he did it. He didn’t have to give you the mother of all second chances, but he did. You couldn’t see how it made any sense. Victor, he only took the risk because Barry asked him to. But why did Barry?

XXXX

Each member of the league had their own room to stay in as needed. You didn’t have a room; you weren’t a member. You could have stayed in Victor’s room since he didn’t sleep, apparently he just sat in an arm chair and “processed” things all night, but because he doesn’t sleep his room doesn’t have a bed to begin with.

That is how you ended up sharing a room with Barry.

You’d been staying at his place nearly all day, and some nights too, for the past week, so it wasn’t even odd to be sharing a space with him again. His room was great, it wasn’t as personalized as his real place was, but it did have running water. The principal feature was that it only had one bed.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! pls leave a comment if you want!


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